As a lady who grew up in a community where menstrual education was scarce and where accessing sanitary products was hard and seen as luxury, Mary Nyaruai was disturbed when in 2019, a 14-year-old girl took her own life after her teacher period-shamed her and kicked her out of class after she bled through her pants.
Jackline Chepngeno, according to her mother, had received her first period but she did not have a sanitary pad available.
After her female teacher embarrassed her Infront of her classmates, Chepngeno walked home and informed her mother about the incident. Afterwards, her body was found hanging on a tree by the riverside where she had gone to clean her soiled clothes.
Nyaruai says that the incident got her thinking and pushed her into doing something towards making sanitary towels not only accessible but also affordable to women, especially those from households that are socially and economically disadvantaged.
“The death of Chepngeno was saddening and painful to any woman and is something that could have been avoided had the right things been done”
She adds that “to any and every woman, sanitary products are and must remain basic necessity”.
Finding solution
After engaging in two years of extensive research, Nyaruai made up her mind to start an initiative that would provide safe, affordable, and accessible sanitary towels to women from poor households.
She then teamed up with a leading material scientist at the Kenya institute of research development to create affordable eco-friendly sanitary pads made without chemicals and plastic.
She set up a start-up dubbed Nyungu Afrika(The womb of Africa) that sustainably produces period products from underutilized agricultural waste.
“Nyungu Afrika is an environmentally conscious and creative social impact business,”
“Our mission is to revolutionize periods by creating best practices that put women’s health, ,eradicating period poverty ,gender equality and environmental sustainability at its core,”Nyaruai explained.
Located in Thika, the female only run start-up uses pineapple leaves and corn husks to produce sanitary pads through a circular design and innovative business model.
Nyaruai says “I normally go and collect pineapple and corn waste from farms and the market. When you combine those two, you make a very beautiful pad that is soft”.
“It delivers in comfort and also absorption and it is also sustainable, which is a brilliant thing.”
Affordability and comfort
Once collected, the agricultural wastes undergo rigorous processes to break down the natural fibers and mould the raw material into biodegradable sanitary pads dubbed oasis sanitary pads.
The sanitary pads produced at Nyungu Africa are low cost, high quality, and biodegradable.
The pads are then sold to women self – help groups, micro-entrepreneurs, schools and local NGOS at the bottom of the pyramid in production
“Unlike conventional pads which are often packed with single-use plastics and harmful chemicals, pads made from pineapple and corn husk waste are fully biodegradable” Nyaruai says.
Nyaruai explains that through her brand of pads she hopes to revolutionise the way menstruation is viewed in Africa
She equips “We are innovating towards period products that are not only good for women, but for Mother Earth, that cut across six UN sustainable goals”
Period poverty
Esther Maina,28 has been using Nyungu Africa products for one year. She says unlike when using conventional pads, she doesn’t have to battle with irritation
“For me, the comfort that comes with the pads is what works me use them, “she said.
Nyaruai, a former banking debt collector says she is out to fight Period poverty in Kenya and across Africa through her initiative.
“Period poverty is the lack of access of sanitary products, menstrual hygiene education, toilets, hand washing facilities and/or waste management” she says.
Mary Kagendo, a single mother of two girls says that nowadays she can comfortably afford sanitary pads for her daughters who would always miss school during their menstrual days.
“These pads are reusable and easy to clean. They are also cheap compared to the ones we buy from shops, “she said
Nyaruai’s oasis pads are now available to schools and informal settlements in Thika and Nairobi.
Disposing of used pads
According to fsg.org, 65% per cent of women and girls cannot afford sanitary pads and resort to trading sex for pads, using unconventional products such as leaves, cartons and tissues which have been linked to reproductive and urinary tract infections.
The few with access are still not completely out of the woods with cases of chronic irritation, itching and burning experienced due to the high levels of chemicals and plastic in the products.
Nyungu Africa disposable pads are 80 per cent biodegradable and deliver on comfort and absorption without compromising the health of women, girls, and the environment.
Nyaruai’s start-up has won two entrepreneurship awards, the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs and the Netfund Green Innovations.
According to UNEP ,menstrual hygiene products emit about 15 million tonnes gases during the manufacturing process and can take up to 35 million barrels of oil to produce.
Further, women prefer disposable sanitary pads which are classified as single-use plastics taking 500 to 800 years to decompose contributing to more than 20% of total land waste fills negatively impacting the environment by release harmful gases, draining clogs and contaminating rivers and oceans.
Government intervention
The government of Kenya put in place legislation to enable the free provision of sanitary towels to school going children.
The Basic Education Amendment Act (2016) places the responsibility of providing free, sufficient, and quality menstrual towels on the government to reduce the number of girls missing school during their menstrual cycle.
The law compels the government to provide sanitary towels to every school-going girl who has reached puberty. It also compels the government to provide a safe and environmentally sound mechanism for disposal of the sanitary towels.
“It shall be the duty of the Cabinet Secretary to provide free, sufficient, and quality sanitary towels to every girl child registered and enrolled in a public basic education institution who has reached puberty and provide a safe and environmentally sound mechanism for disposal of the sanitary towels “reads part of the law
Accessibility
According to UNESCO estimates, around half of all school-age girls do not have access to menstrual pads .
The State Department of Gender Affairs in the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs is charged with the responsibility of providing the free sanitary pads
Data from the Ministry of Education indicates that a girl that is absent from school for four days in 28 days (month) loses 13 learning days, equivalent to two weeks of learning in every school term.
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In an academic year a girl loses 39 learning days equivalent to six weeks of learning time. A girl in primary school between grades 6 and 8 loses 18 learning weeks out of 108 weeks. Within the four years of high school a girl can lose 156 learning days equivalent to almost 24 weeks out of 144 weeks of learning.
The State Department for Gender Affairs has been procuring and distributing sanitary towels for 3.7 million girls in public primary schools, special primary and secondary schools in the country
Since in 2011, through the Ministry of Education Treasury has pumped Sh1.9 billion into the programme and that has benefited 11.2 million girls.
The total beneficiaries of the projects are 3, 703, 452 girls collectively receiving 14, 813, 810 packets of sanitary towels costing Ksh. 420, 618, 057
The objective of the programme is to increase the access of teenage girls to sexual and reproductive health products so that we can increase their retention in school, transition to higher levels of learning and thereby enhance their academic performance.
Nyaruai hopes that one day, her start-up will take root across the country not only to provide affordable and safe sanitary products to women but also to educate them on how to produce the same .